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Lawyers bringing the big wildfire case against PacifiCorp in Portland have filed an amended complaint that asks for $30 billion in damages from the company — $30 million apiece for 1,000 new plaintiffs.
It's a number far beyond the verdicts so far in what's known as the James case. Those verdicts, for three dozen plaintiffs, add up to $220 million.
That includes damages from an initial trial involving 17 named plaintiffs where the Berkshire Hathaway Energy-owned electric utility was found grossly negligent in contributing four Labor Day 2020 wildfires, as well as in two subsequent "Phase 2" trials held strictly to determine what was owed to 19 others in the class action.
PacifiCorp has filed notices of appeal with the Oregon Court of Appeals in the first two of those three trials where limited judgments have been entered by the court.
The "mass complaint" filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court seeks $5 million for economic losses and $25 million for non-economic damages, or what's often called pain and suffering.
With the negligence factor, the economic damages could be doubled and punitive damages added to the toll, theoretically driving the total well beyond $30 billion.
But how the case will unfold from here is unclear.
The amended complaint comes nearly two months after the second Phase 2 trial wrapped up. A scheduled third such trial involving two timber companies was avoided by a settlement, leaving the James case opponents to give mediation a go, as ordered by Judge Steffan Alexander.
Unless the mediation succeeds, more Phase 2 trials could ensue, going through the list of 1,000 plaintiffs, and there could be more. But Judge Alexander hasn't laid out a pathway beyond mediation.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs declined to comment. PacifiCorp in a written statement reiterated its oft-stated willingness to "settle all reasonable claims for actual damages," adding that it had settled "over a thousand claims related to the 2020 wildfires, including reasonable claims from those that have opted out of the James class action."
Some settlement amounts have been revealed. One was worth $250 million to 10 commercial timber companies and owners for the the Archie Creek Complex Fire in Southern Oregon. Another paid $299 million to 463 individual plaintiffs who alleged utility negligence contributed in the Douglas County blaze.